W.H.: Obama deserves credit for any Syrian deal

9/12/13 3:05 PM EDT

President Barack Obama would deserve some credit if the Syrian crisis is ultimately resolved with the Assad regime relinquishing its chemical weapons, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.

“If we were to see a situation unfold where Assad were to give up his chemical weapons to international supervision that would be an enormous accomplishment and it would represent a wholesale change to where Syria and Russia were … three weeks ago,” Carney said.

“That would be due to the decisions made by the Russian leadership but also the decisions made by the United States, by the president, to take the approach he has taken in response to the horrifying use of chemical weapons on his own people.”

Carney’s statement comes after the White House has gone out of its way to say that Russia has invested his prestige in the Syrian conflict.

The country, Carney said, “has put its prestige and credibility on the line” in backing talks to remove chemical weapons from Syria.

Carney didn’t respond directly when asked if the prestige and credibility of the United States is also on the line.

“The United States, in part because it is an exceptional nation, is called upon the lead in situations like this,” Carney said. “That is what this president and this country has been doing.”